Desk appliance

ABSTRACT

A desk appliance of elemental simplicity incorporates a magnetic paper clip dispenser having a cylindrical lateral wall and an annular magnet at the top for holding paper clips in readiness for use. The bottom of the container is removable for refilling the container, and the same bottom has an integral cylindrical extension telescopically disposed over the cylindrical wall of the container. The extension is a mask or frame that exposes a selected group of seven columns of numerals out of thirteen columns of day-of-the-month numerals, and over the seven selected columns the mask has seven day-of-the-week characters. The bottom of the container and its extension forms a unit that is rotatable, thereby to provide a perpetual calendar.

United States Patent 1 1 Shore 1 1 May 8, 1973 [541 DESK APPLIANCE [75]Inventor: Sidney X. Shore, Roslyn, N.Y.

[73'] Assignee: Souvenir/Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa [22] Filed: Feb. 23,1971 21 Appl. No.: 118,018

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 6,600,201 7/1967 Netherlands ..206/DlG.33

Primary Examiner-Robert W. Michell Assistant Examiner-J. H. WolffAttorney-Paul S. Martin [5 7] ABSTRACT A desk appliance of elementalsimplicity incorporates a magnetic paper clip dispenser having acylindrical lateral wall and an annular magnet at the top for holdingpaper clips in readiness for use. The bottom of the container isremovable for refilling the container, and the same bottom has anintegral cylindrical extension telescopically disposed over thecylindrical wall of the container. The extension is a mask or frame thatexposes a selected group of seven columns of numerals out of thirteencolumns of day-of-the-month numerals, and over the seven selectedcolumns the mask has seven day-of-the-week characters. The bottom of thecontainer and its extension forms a unit that is rotatable, thereby toprovide a perpetual calendar.

1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHAY 8191s INVENTOR.

f/oA/m X. Jfimae BY 2 ATTORNEY DESK APPLIANCE This invention relates todesk appliances, and in particular to a desk appliance serving both as apaper clip dispenser and as a perpetual calendar.

Paper clip dispensers are known having a cylindrical cavity, aconstricted top opening and a closed bottom. There is an annularpermanent magnet around the constricted opening, which acts to attractand hold paper clips in a handy position for removal. Projecting paperclips can be grasped individually and removed for use. Others becomeavailable in the opening, either because one paper clip being removedattracts and draws another from the container into the opening, orbecause the user shakes or inverts the container to shift paper clipsinto the opening.

An object of the present invention resides in extending the usefulnessof such a paper clip dispenser without cluttering the desk where thepaper clip dispenser is used, by incorporating therein a perpetualcalendar. More particularly, an object of the invention resides inintegrating a paper clip dispenser and a perpetual calendar in aneconomical and highly functional unitary desk appliance, to take theplace of two spaceconsuming desk appliances.

In achieving these objects of the invention, a paper clip dispenser isprovided, whose bottom is removable for loading paper clips into thecontainer. The outside cylindrical surface of the container has thirteencolumns of day-of-the-month numerals in the usual arrangement ofperpetual calendars. The bottom of the container is extended over thecylindrical outer surface of the container, as a cylindrical mask orframe that outlines seven columns of the day-of-the-month numerals. Theframe has the day-of-the-week designations at the tops of the columns.By rotating the bottom of the container, the frame can be adjusted toset the first-of-the-month in the right day-of-the-week column for anygiven month.

The nature of the invention, including its novel features andadvantages, will be appreciated more fully from the detailed descriptionof the illustrative embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a novel desk appliance, as an illustrativeembodiment of the features of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-section of the appliance in FIG. 1 as viewedat the plane 2-2 therein; and

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view of the perpetual calendar of FIG. 1, shownflat, the rotatable mask being represented therein in broken lines.

The desk appliance in the drawings consists of a total of four componentparts that are assembled easily and quickly. A cylindrical body has anannular cavity near the top that receives an annular magnet 14. A cover12 holds the magnet in place, cover 12 advantageously being secured tobody 10 by a suitable cement. Bottom 16 of the container is removable,for loading paper clips into the container. A few paper clips at a timeare received in the opening at the top of the container, where they areheld available for removal. Other paper clips can be drawn into theopening by attraction to a paper clip being withdrawn from the opening,or paper clips can enter the opening by being shaken upward or byinvertin the container.

The foregoing four parts cons itute a paper clip dispenser. Withoutadditional parts, the described device incorporates a perpetualcalendar. Bottom 16 has an integral cylindrical extension 18 that fitstelescopically over the cylindrical wall 10 of the container. Extension18 is a mask having an opening 20 that frames seven columns ofday-of-the-month numerals 22 on the outer surface of wall 10. Extension18 has a series of seven day-of-the-week characters 24 over the exposedseven columns of numerals 22, providing a one-month calendar.

The whole series of numerals 22 consists of thirteen columns, with thenumeral 1 in the seventh column of the thirteen. The bottom 16 of thecontainer and its extension 18 can be rotated on wall 10 of thecontainer to select any group of seven successive columns of numerals.In this way, the first-of-the-month can be set in position under theday-of-the-week that is applicable for any given month. Thus, thedescribed desk appliance consists of only the four components described,namely parts 10, 12, 14 and 16/18/20. Parts 10, 12 and 16/ 18/20 areadvantageously of molded plastic. The assembly of the device isobviously quick and easy. The container bottom is rotatable to carry theintegral frame or mask of the perpetual calendar to the desired setting.A simple, elegant and very useful desk appliance is thus realized.

What is claimed is:

1. A desk appliance, including a paper clip container having a lateralwall at least part of which has an external cylindrical surface bearingthirteen columns of dayof-the-month perpetual-calendar numerals, saidcontainer having an annular magnet at the top thereof and having anopening through the magnet for holding paper clips in readiness forremoval, said container having a bottom removable for loading paperclips into the container and said bottom having a cylindrical extensiontelescopically slidable on and rotatable in relation to said cylindricalsurface of the container wall, said cylindrical extension and saidbottom forming an integral unit coaxial with said wall and axiallyslidably removable from the container, said extension having an openingthat frames any selected sequence of seven of said thirteen columns ofnumerals, said extension bearing day-of-the-week characters distributedacross said columns for alignment with said selected seven columns ofnumerals.

1. A desk appliance, including a paper clip container having a lateralwall at least part of which has an external cylindrical surface bearingthirteen columns of day-of-the-month perpetualcalendar numerals, saidcontainer having an annular magnet at the top thereof and having anopening through the magnet for holding paper clips in readiness forremoval, said container having a bottom removable for loading paperclips into the container and said bottom having a cylindrical extensiontelescopically slidable on and rotatable in relation to said cylindricalsurface of the container wall, said cylindrical extension and saidbottom forming an integral unit coaxial with said wall and axiallyslidably removable from the container, said extension having an openingthat frames any selected sequence of seven of said thirteen columns ofnumerals, said extension bearing day-of-theweek characters distributedacross said columns for alignment with said selected seven columns ofnumerals.